Family History Tips--Part 42

Exploring other Cryptic Markings in U.S. Census Records—Language and Nativity

by Brenna Corbit, Technical Services Librarian

Last time we looked at Stephen Morse’s One Step for deciphering occupation codes in the 1910-1930 U.S. Censuses. Over the last couple of weeks they have been a valuable aid since several occupations in the census records were illegible. If you did use Morse’s site, you may have noticed additional One Steps for other census codes. This week we will look at “Deciphering Language & Nativity Codes Appended to 1930 Census in One Step”

To demonstrate the use of this utility, I will use the example of Benjamin Zweiben and his wife of an illegible name living in Manhattan in 1930 (Image A). Column 18 indicates their places of birth. It looks like Austria crossed out. Across the top I can make out Poland, but underneath the word looks like “Golnia,” the same place of nativity for both of their parents. Lastly, column 21 states their spoken language as Yiddish. So, what or where is Golina? To solve this mystery, I can refer to the numbers and letters in columns A, B, and C—“35, 14, and V.” 

Turning to the One Step page (Image B), we find two drop-down lists and one chart, Columns A-C corresponding to the same in the 1930 U.S. Census. Column A will help you to determine the spoken language. Thus, 35 represents Hebrew/Yiddish, as we can easily make out in the census image. If Benjamin and his wife were born in the U.S., you could also determine the state of birth by number code. 

Turning to Column B (Image C), I drop down to country code 14 is written in the corresponding census column, and find Poland along with a breakdown of place names in said country. The closest I can determine for “Golina” is Galicia. Looking back at the census image, I can now make out the name. 

The last column on the census image is C, which states V. In the One Step (Image D), we can see that V designates “Non-Citizen.” 

Over the many years of searching thousands of miles of microfilm and digitized records, I have grown accustomed to deciphering illegible writing, but I do meet my challenges. In the above example, I already figured that “Golina” was probably Galicia, but if I were a novice family historian, I may not have known about this region in southeastern Poland. Family history is part of political history, so hop on over to your library and read up on your ancestors’ historical backgrounds. 

Keep in mind, spellings of provinces, cities, towns and villages can vary, especially in a country like Poland with its 1000 years of constant border changes. Moreover, many of our ancestors were illiterate. It was not always possible for them to spell their places of birth, and the census taker would do her best to record the oral communication. 

You know who to contact if you get stuck out on a limb. Next time we will look at another Stephen Morse One Step—Indian Codes used in the 1930 Census.